Huntsmen in Training
by Blacklightning97
Summary: Another year, another generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Yet for a few young trainees, Beacon Academy will bring far more then learning. Something much worse lies in store for all of them, something that is hidden from those who are the most qualified to stop it. You must always remember that almost nothing is as it seems. Focuses on original characters. T for violence.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Vale!

**Hello and welcome to a story about a team of young hunters to be. This story will focus mainly on original characters, However canon people will appear for light or secondary roles.**

**Also before we start I just have a few things to stat.**

**A (...) that is separating two paragraphs means a passing of time or a switch between people or groups of people.**

**If I use Italics in speech, whatever is being said is actually being thought instead. **

**A pair of Asterisks or * around a word usually means that it is an audible noise of sound.**

**Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy.**

**I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum (may he rest in peace) and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do, however, own any and all original characters in this story unless I specifically say so.**

_**(Since I am still currently writing this story, I sometimes go back on things I have already posted and will change them to fit what I wish to. These, however, tend to not be large facets of plot and more like small details. If you are confused about something that randomly comes into play... Sorry about that)**_

* * *

Chapter 1: Welcome to Vale!

Aidan woke with a start as the train shook. He looked around frantically, trying to remember where he was and why. After a few seconds of panic, he smiled and sighed deeply in realization.

For the past couple years both he and his fellow students at Flare Academy had trained long and hard in order to reach the highest goal for a novice hunter in kingdom of Vale, possibly even all of Remnant: Beacon. Flare wasn't as big as some schools in the kingdom of Vale, so only a handful of students had been accepted. Aidan was one of them.

Had he been actually standing, he would have stood just barely over six feet tall. He had wavy blond hair that remained a look of professionalism due to its neat trimming. His skin was very light but not excessively pale. His eyes were an icy blue and seemed very intensely focused on whatever he was looking at even if he wasn't. He wore a metallic grey breastplate over a blue and black flannel shirt with long sleeves. The sleeves, however had been slightly rolled up so they bunched up just before a matching metallic bracer on each of his arms. Small, seemingly random lines went though both bracers. His legs, which were almost too big for the cramped seating, were covered with a pair of of black denim jeans.

"Well… That was a rush." Aidan ran his finger though his golden hair before glancing out the window on his left to see where the train was. The view was dazzling.

The fractured moon that hung in the sky bathed the landscape below in a celestial white light. The coastline water shimmered as it rushed onto the rocks. It looked extremely peaceful and calm. But looks can be deceiving. Even though all the trains had on-board protection, you could never feel entirely safe. Howls and other noises could often be heard from the plains and forests that the Grimm inhabited nearby. Some people were so afraid and paranoid that they never traveled between cities much less kingdoms.

A loud snort came from the seat next to Aidan.

"*Yawn* Why does the train have to be so noisy?" A teen with jet black hair asked rhetorically before looking over to see Aidan also awake.

"Man, what time is it?" He rubbed his eyes and itched his head.

"You might as well go back to sleep, Forrest. It's only four thirty."

Forrest yawned and pulled a pair of glasses out of his shirt pocket.

"Man, why are you up? After all that last minute training you were putting in I thought you'd be wiped out for sure."

"I woke up… wow, like 15 minutes ago, and thought it was a good time to do some thinking. ." Aidan turned from his friend and back to the display of nature they were speeding past.

"Whats the matter? Think you wont be able to make it at Beacon?" Forrest straightened in his seat and yawned again.

"I don't know Forrest. What if I've bitten off more then I can chew. That question keeps popping up."

"Dude, your golden as far as I'm concerned. Out of all of us, you were the only one I was sure was gonna make it this far. This is in your blood, man. I mean, Beacon only takes the best of the best, and even then I think they miss some. Have a little more faith in yourself. Sheesh."

"Yeah, maybe" Aidan mumbled.

"I'm gonna get some sleep while the getting is good. Good talk though." Forrest laughed and turned over in his seat away from his friend.

Aidan chuckled slightly. "Night."

"_I guess I am just nervous about Beacon. It isn't every day you accomplish something like this... Well I haven't yet. I still have to get though the first few days. But... it sure is good to have done this much."_

Aidan smiled before closing his eyes. He slowly drifted off and fell asleep a few minutes later.

...

Vale was a busy city, today all the more due to the arrival of potential huntsmen and huntresses from all over the kingdom. But all the toil didn't get rid of the exhilarating atmosphere the two young men felt as they made their way across town.

"Wow, I've never been to the capital before. It… actually seems like back home in a way. Not how I thought it would be." Forrest seemed almost disappointed.

"I know what you mean, but I've been here more than once. Believe me, this place is a lot different." The two hurried after the other few students. Aidan looked around as he walked.

There weren't many chain stores, most were individually owned. Some sold magazines and books, others sold clothes, he even saw one or two that sold dust, but mostly there were food stores. Just a quick glance in the window made Aidan's stomach hurt.

"Man, looking at the food will only make you hungrier. Seriously, we're almost to the pad." Forest said purposefully not looking into the windows.

"*Sigh* You know what. I'm gonna go buy something real quick." Aidan said as he stopped and headed back to the sandwich shop they had just passed.

"Seriously?" Forrest seemed torn for a moment before deciding to go ahead with his classmates. "Just hurry up will ya."

Aidan swung open the door to the shop and smiled at the smell of roasted meat. The shop wasn't especially big but seemed to be made up of a couple different floors. The first floor was almost completely filled with the preparation equipment and such, with only a few rotating seats placed around the counter. Maybe there was more seating up stairs.

"May I help you, son?" A extremely large man said in a slurred monotone voice as he leaned down against the counter. A disproportionately small name tag reading 'Craig' was clipped to the top right of his white apron.

"Um… could you just make me a quick medium sandwich with meat in it? Not ketchup or mustard please. Oh! I also need that to go. Thanks."

The man cracked his knuckles as he went to work on making the order. Aidan sat down at the counter before a conversation between two other patrons nearby caught his attention.

"Did you hear about the hijacking of the trading ships?" A woman in a black jacket said to her male friend.

"Yeah. But it's weird. My brother is one of the dock workers and said that the ones he was supposed to be handling were full Atlasian tech. That's some expensive cargo to lose. Somebodies paycheck is going to be small, let me tell you."

"Probably stolen and sold on the black market."

"You think somebody hijacked the ships?" The man said slightly surprised.

"What you think they disappeared in a whirl pool or got eaten by some sea creature? Give me a break."

"Its a legitimate possibility, stuff like that..." Aidan's attention to the conversation was broke by the ginormous man setting a brown bag before him.

"That will be three-fifty."

Aidan dug into his pockets and pulled out the correct amount and set it on the table.

"Please come again." The clerk said as he put the money into the register and turned toward a small television screen sitting on the counter.

"_He was either really bored or he always talks like that. Either way I need to get going"_

Aidan grabbed the bag and rushed out the door. Realizing that the next airship was no doubt about to leave, he booked it down the sidewalk as he bit into his sandwich. Aidan frowned and said sorrowfully as a single tear came down his face.

"I said no mustard."

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**Thank you for reading. I take great joy in writing and even more from getting feedback on it. Please let me know what you guys think in a review. If you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to let me know. **

**Blacklightning**

*Edited on August 8, 201


	2. Chapter 2: Beacon or bust

**Wow, this chapter took considerable time to write. But nonetheless, here is chapter two.**

**I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do, however, own any and all original characters in this story unless I specifically say so.**

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Chapter 2: Beacon or bust

"Good lord, they really are strict on their schedules. They can't wait 30 seconds?" Aidan said as he caught his breath on the airship floor. A couple moments earlier, Aidan had been jogging to the air pad in order to take an airship up to Beacon. However as the pad came into view, Aidan saw that the first ship had already taken off and the other was only a dozen or so seconds from retracting the boarding ramps and he had to sprint the last 10 meters. He made it by the skin of his teeth.

A couple of the other novices aboard the ship looked over judgmentally before returning to their conversations and such. Aidan finally picked himself up off the floor and sat down on a bench near one of the windows. He opened the brown bag in his hand.

"I guess I can… maybe choke it down." The blond said before biting into the sandwich.

The airship slowly rose into the air and began moving towards the east. Several passengers watch out the window as the ground got farther and farther away. Aidan looked on impulse and immediately jerked away from the window. You could say he was more the a little afraid of heights. He did his best to try to forget their increasing altitude and focused on the huge sandwich. Even though it wasn't exactly to his taste, Aidan was still hungry. As he grimaced with each bite, he looked around at some of the others aboard the ship.

Some had armor, others had dyed hair. One even had what looked like a cybernetic arm. Each and every one was easily distinguishable from the rest. Most of them stood in small groups chatting amongst themselves.

"Ugh, note to self: always make sure they get your order right." His taste-buds refusing to take any more, Aidan furrowed his brow and stuffed his surprisingly large sandwich into the brown bag before the news caught his attention.

"… Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony." The news anchor went on reporting about the white fang and their activities. Aidan watched the report with interest.

"_Well, it looks like things are way worse here then they are at home. Four dead... thats just-"_

"Hey." A voice caught Aidan's attention.

"What?" He slightly turned to the side.

To Aidan's right a tall girl stood facing him. She wore a light set of silvery-gray armor and chainmail. Long sleeves hid all of her hands but the ends of her fingers. A long lilac skirt hung to just below her knees around her waist. A curved katana in its sheath was hooked onto a belt that looped around the top of the skirt. Her long black hair flowed over her shoulders and transitioned to a light pinkish purple near the hair tips. But the detail that caught Aidan's attention stuck out above her head. Jutting out of her hair at the top of her head was the black ears of a fox.

"You gonna, like, eat that sandwich?"

"What?"

"Food, you know: sustenance." She said slowly as if explaining something for a child.

"Um… sure" Aidan said unsurely as he handed her the bag.

"Mmm hamks" She mumbled out after she bit into the sandwich. She hungrily chomped down again and again. She chewed and chewed and finally swallowed with a satisfied sigh.

"Man, this is good. What's your name?" As soon as the words left her mouth she bite into the sandwich again. Aidan was both amazed and a little repulsed by her aggressive behavior towards the innocent sandwich.

"Aidan Iolar, nice to meet you uh…" He extended his hand for a handshake

"Mmn Han." She hastily swallowed the last bite before clearing her throat. "Sorry about that. My friends call me Ran." Ran gripped his hand and shook it then smiled. A sharp barely audible noise turned both of their attentions back toward the news report. Only the report had disappeared and was now replaced by a hologram of a tall woman.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" The woman began.

"I feel like I should know who this is." Ran whispered over to Aidan.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the few privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy." These words made Aidan briefly remember what Forrest had said earlier that morning.

"Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsman and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The hologram faded away and left most of the people aboard with the amazing view of the outside.

"Wow. We're, like, really high up. Look at all the water." Ran said gleefully.

Aidan only needed a quick glimpse before he pulled back from the window. Only now did he realize just how far up they were. The thought made him feel lightheaded. But Aidan wanted to remember everything about this day. So he stood up, although clumsily, and walked over to look out the window with Ran.

"You're right about the view, it is amazing." He forced out as he stood tensely.

"I just hope we don't all fall to our deaths." Ran chuckled as Aidan shuddered.

**…**

Aidan practically threw himself out of the airship as everyone disembarked. He charged out and dove into the grass.

"I love you, beloved ground, please never leave me again."

"Are you done, because…" Ran gestured ahead.

The large avenue before them lead to a few concrete structures surrounding a beautiful guardian. Beyond that you could see the spires and peaks of various building around Beacon. But the crown was the large tower that seemed to be the center of it all. Green lights shone from the top majestically.

"Wow. The descriptions I've heard of this place just don't do it justice." Aidan said in awe after he picked himself up off the ground. The two just stood there for a moment absorbing the view. Finally Ran broke the silence.

"So… where do we go? I don't see any signs or... you know... other marker… things."

"Well, Ran, the path seems to go straight to that building waaay over there. So I guess we could just stroll over there and check it out. Also it uh... seems to be where everyone else seems to be heading."

"I guess that's as good a plan as any. I'm gonna stick with you alright?"

"Uh... sure." Aidan could tell that even if he wanted to say no, that she would follow him either way.

The two walked in silence and observed the well-kept nature around them. Carefully pruned brushes and vivid flowered dotted the edges of the path in almost perfect symmetry. They walked for a good two minutes when Ran, as usual, broke it.

"Okay. So I've, like, got to ask. What exactly do you fight with? Do you, like, only fight with your fists or something. That would be so awesome. I mean you don't really seem to have anything one you." Ran's enthusiasm radiated off her.

"No, no, no. I have weapons, just not in plain sight... or are they" Aidan smiled and raised both of his hands up to show her the bracers on each arm. With an audible *Shinksh* metal blade shot out the front of the right bracer. The left bracer shifted back a little, exposing a small but bright red flame coming from the end of a small barrel. Then after a couple seconds they reverted back to their original inconspicuous state in a blink of an eye.

"WHOA! That's so cool. But check out my stuff." Ran whipped out her katana from the sheath and whipped it around before sheathing it. Then she dropped her arms to her sides. Two small axes slowly descended from each sleeve, hanging from a small metal cables that disappeared up her sleeves.

"Check out that red flower over there." She said pointing out her target. *PIIFFSH* one of the axes shot off at alarming speed and whipped at the flower. A split second later the head of the flower slowly floated down to the ground and the axe cord retracted the axe back into Ran's hand. A prideful smile spread across her face.

"Whoa. That really-" Had Aidan been watching where he was going instead of watching his friends demonstration, it would have been impossible for him to not see the hurried man carrying books he had just ran into. Well, ran over might be a better way to describe it. The man smashed into him and fell over backwards in a whoosh of books and papers.

"I am so sorry sir." Aidan apologized as he bent down to help recover the mess of notes and other assorted papers. Ran quickly jumped in.

"Nah, kid. It's all good." The man said as he picked up a rather large book with a red cover.

The man himself looked fairly tall, a little taller than Aidan, but had a small frame. He had shaggy red hair that covered his eyes half of the time. He was dressed in a bright green shirt with lots of white tropical leaves and flowers on it along with a pair of khaki shorts that went down to his knees.

He briefly brushed his fiery hair out of his eyes.

"Wait. Are you two new students?" Aidan caught a small glimpse of a pair of blue eyes lurking behind the man's bangs.

"Yes we are. Are you a student here?" Ran guessed.

"Do I really look that young? Man… No I'm a librarian. You can call me Mr. Reed." The man shook both of their hands

"Nice to meet you... did you just make a pun." Aidan said as he handed the librarian the last of his things.

"Now that you mention it, that is a pun. But no seriously that is my name." He chuckled slightly to himself before continuing.

"Anyway you do realize you're supposed to be at the meeting hall now, right? Anyhow, I've got things to do, places to be. But it was good meeting you kids. feel free to top by the library sometime, okay. Well not that you will have a choice. You will both be spending lots of time their if you are to succeed here." Having gathered up all his stuff he left and waved as he speed walked away.

The two watched as he left.

"Well… he was friendly." Ran said as Aidan grinned slightly.

"He's right though, we should get moving." Aidan said trying to return to the task at hand.

"OH... Yeah."

A small grin on Ran's face slowly crept into a smile.

"Race you there."

Aidan didn't even have time to process what she said before she left him in the dust.

**…**

It was a while before Aidan caught up to his faunas friend.

"At least give me a chance would you. I bet you run almost 3 times faster then I do" Aidan said out of breath.

"I don't know about that. Maybe you're just slow." Ran crossed her arms and pretended to look offended.

The meeting hall was jam-packed with other students. Most stood and talked with newly acquired friends as they waited. The building was like a giant auditorium, with a large stage with a microphone located at one end. Aidan and Ran settled for a place nearer to the back before the headmaster cleared his throat into the microphone.

"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin stated before going headfirst into his speech.

"You have traveled here today in the search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." He looked around the room.

"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to _YOU_ to take the first step."

The woman from the hologram back on the ship walked up to the stand as the headmaster left.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Now with the 'speech' done, the students all began speaking amongst each other.

"That was a nice speech. Short, sweet, and to the point." Ran watched as the two teachers walked off the stage.

"I don't know if I would call that a speech, more like a pep talk cut short. But I have to admit, it was inspiring. A little at least." Aidan did, in fact, feel driven by that speech.

"*Grurrllle*..."

"Was that your stomach?" Aidan asked as he raised an eyebrow

"What... no... yeah it was."

"But you ate my sandwich just like an hour ago."

"Give me a break. I don't run on sugar and spice and everything nice." Ran itched the back of her head in embarrassment.

**…**

Aidan sat on a sleeping bag near the edge of the wall of the ballroom. There was enough space for somebody to walk by but not enough to not disturb him as they did. He had been able to change into his sleeping clothes; a pair of cobalt pajama pants with a dull gray t-shirt.

Aidan tuned out the hushed room around him as he flipped though a few pages in the book he was reading.

The ballroom was divided into two sections: one half for the boys and one half for the girls. People from either side walked back and forth as they got ready for bed.

Aidan realized he had just looked across the same paragraph twice and hadn't actually read it.

"*Sigh* Tomorrow is the day everything actually starts. And I thought today was exciting." Aidan had heard about initiation before from his father. Apparently it was different every year but other then that his dad had kept him in the dark on what to expect. _"You'll find out yourself someday when you are there. Wouldn't want to ruin a future experience."_ Aidan's dad was like that, always letting him find out how to do things on his own.

_"The hard way is the best way."_ Aidan smiled at his father's motto. Thoughts of his father brought the rest of his family to mind among other things.

"I need to write Mom ASAP or she is gonna be ticked. Maybe if I have time to call in the morning."

Aidan gave up on his book and tossed it into his bag. He stretched out right as someone tried to squeeze passed. A large amount of force crushed down on his arm.

"ARGHH! What the heck man?" Aidan looked up angrily at the tall figure that had quickly readjusted his step.

He was tall, defiantly taller than Aidan was. His red hair, which looked more like fire then hair, fell in dreadlocks down to the lower back of his neck. A matching soul patch rested on his chin. His eyes were both furrowed into a more or less permanent glare. He looked strong as well and his tank top didn't hide that fact.

"Dude, it was you own fault. Stay out of the way, stupid." The tall student glared down at the Aidan on the floor before walking by without uttering a single apologetic word or even looking the least bit sorry. Aidan stopped himself from yelling at him and focused instead on his throbbing arm.

"If I see that guy again he's gonna get it. UGHH. It was my sword arm too." Aidan buried his head into the pillow, hoping that tomorrow wouldn't be but a minute away, he finally was able to re-tune out the sounds from around the ballroom and within a couple minute was asleep.

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**YAY, soon we'll be able to have some fighting, with the initiation next chapter. Looking forward to that. Anyway I hoped you guys have enjoyed my story so far. If you did (or even if you didn't) please leave me a review to let me know how it is or how I can improve on it. Also feel free to send me a message, because those always make my day.**

**Next time: Initiation**

*Edited on August 8, 2015


	3. Chapter 3:The Red Twins

**Here we go guys a new chapter bring some new people into the fold... unfortunately it looks like we aren't quite going to make it to initiation this chapter. Sorry about that. Anyway, this story is going to go on two fronts: one from students at Beacon and the other you are about to be (briefly) introduced to. **

**I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do, however, own any and all original characters in this story unless I specifically say so.**

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Chapter 3: The Red Twins

*Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock*

The darkened building was almost completely silent, with only a few sounds keeping the silence at bay.

*Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock*

A single grand clock made of darkened wood towered over everything else as it stood next to the back wall. The mechanism inside let out the deep sounds that clocks are characteristically are known to make.

*Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock*

The building, however, was not completely dark, and the grand clock was not the only source of noise. The light from a small lamp could be easily seen throughout the majority of the building. A man sat at a desk as he intently scribbled on the papers before him. He momentarily glanced over at the clock before letting out a quiet sigh. Suddenly a small touchpad on the desk lit up.

"Who would be calling at this time of night?" He thought to himself. He tapped the "answer" button.

"Yeah?" The man said in a strained and tired voice.

"Hello, is this Mr. Robert Pinkerton" The dignified voice of an elderly man answered.

"*Sigh* What do you want." Robert didn't react well to the overly formal tone that flowed off the man's voice.

"I am calling on behalf of the South Atlesian Trade Union. We have a business proposal for you." Robert leaned back in his chair and stretched before answering.

"If by "business" you mean a job then you've got my attention. Enlighten me on the details."

"I am sorry but I am not at liberty to elaborate on the nature of the proposed assignment. Our chief executive wishes to fill you in on everything in person, which will require you to come to our headquarters in Keyelo."

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Slow down here. I'm not one to agree to a job I know nothing about. People in my profession often get into some bad stuff otherwise." Robert began putting his assorted books and papers that were on his desk into their proper places as he cleaned up his desk.

"I assure you, Mr. Pinkerton, that it is nothing illegal. However to ease your mind we have forwarded 5000 lien to your account simply for you to come and listen. If you decline the job, nothing will be held against you. But should you take up the job and complete it you will be paid the sum of 15000." That caught Robert's attention. A large smile spread across his face.

"Oh… Well in that case, I'll be there as soon as possible." Robert grabbed his coat off a nearby rack and put it on as he got ready to leave his establishment.

"Good day to you sir." The man on the other end hung up. Robert flicked off his lamp and left out the front door, leaving the building in total darkness. Robert tapped his eat as he walked down the darkened street outside.

"Ryanne, get your equipment together and meet me near the harbor. We're headed to Keyelo."

:::

The night had passed, for the most part, peacefully. Despite having more than a few adolescents in a single room, the silence had only been badly disrupted a couples times throughout the night. Aidan lay with his face half-buried into his pillow, only to be awoken by the voice of his glasses wearing friend.

"Dude, it's time to get up." Forest's voice crashed into his subconscious, dragging him back to reality. Aidan groaned, thoroughly annoyed by this rude awakening.

"Leave me alone." He replied bluntly as he tried to retreat deeper into his sleeping bag.

"Come on, Fireman. They have breakfast down at the dining hall." The mere mention of food brought the sleepy blond hunter to full alert.

"I guess I could get up… for the food." He said with a half-suppressed smile as he got up from his sleeping bag.

"I already ate, so I think I'm going to go get more familiar with the campus, so I guess I'll see you later man."

Aidan made a half-hearted wave to his buddy as the two went their separate ways, with Aidan to bathroom to get changed for the day and Forest disappearing into the halls outside the ballroom. There was only a few people in the bathroom so Aidan hadn't waited long before one of the sinks was open. He quickly brushed his teeth and shaved before going into one of the stalls to change. He exited the bathroom clean, fresh, and clothed for the day. All he had left was his armor and weapons. He was ready for whatever the school had to throw at him… he thought.

Near the far side of the ball room Aidan saw a sign that had in bold print 'Dining Hall' with an arrow point down the hallway. Eagerly, he followed more signs down the hall. It was only a few minutes before he beheld the dining hall.

Students of every grade were all there, either getting food or in the process of eating it. The room itself was very large, with four long rows of tables and a very high ceiling, still Aidan wondered if it was big enough. Through the large glass windows in the walls you could see several of the other nearby building as well as a little bit of the city. Aidan, however, observed these things in the back of his head. He was much more focused on food. He went through the line and got an apple, few slices of ham, and some pancakes. Under normal circumstances, Aidan would have completely loaded up his plate, but he was too excited and in a hurry. Quickly, he sat down at one of the tables nearest to the windows and bowed his head.

"Thank you for the meal" and with that he dug into his food.

He was about half finished with his meal when he noticed how hard it was to actually cut the pancakes.

"Are these pancakes made of iron, good lord."

…

"589… 590… ah here we go, 591." After searching for her locker for the past 7 minutes, Ran finally found it and tapped in her code. The door unlocked with an audible *clank*. Ran pulled the door open grabbed her miniature axe and a small spike looking object from a rack inside. She extended both metal cords from her sleeves and hooked the weapons to them, the axe on the right and the spike on the left. Then she solemnly picked up her sheathed katana before closing her eyes and bowing her head.

"My name is Ran Rommel. I am a defender of the light, a sword in the night, a paragon of justice who fights for right." She calmly whispered to herself before strapping it around her waist. With her arsenal complete, Ran stepped back. She then stood in silence, simply looking at a small glimmer of light reflecting off the razor sharp blade of her axe.

"*yawn* Morning." Ran's moment of serenity faded away with the appearance of her light haired comrade. Aidan approached his locker, only a few down from the young faunus. Ran's tranquil demeanor was immediately replaced by her normal over the top and cheerful self.

"Hey Aidan, how'd you sleep?"

"Fine, if you don't count the uproar caused by a certain someone. Don't you think you could hold off on pranks for the first few nights?

"Look, I have trouble sleeping most nights. Give a girl a break if she gets bored." Ran stopped and thought about her night shenanigans.

Aidan slightly shook his head and tapped his code into his locker. Reaching inside, he pulled out his two bracers. He slipped one onto his right arm and then the other onto his left. Aidan, as he did out of habit, extended the blade from the mechanism and admired a fiery bird that was engraved near the tip.

"Did you make that yourself?" Ran asked as she looked on the blade as well.

"I wish… No, I only made the mechanism and the bracer. The blade used to be part of my father's sword, Ravager. I named my weapon after it. I thought it was kind of fitting." A melancholic look appeared on his face. He retracted the blade and held up the other bracer.

"However I did make this. Just some metal, some dust, and knowledge of compact mechanics and guns and *boom* you've got an easily portable flamethrower." Ran sighed with a little envy at Aidan's weapons. Suddenly a loud voice caught both of their attentions.

Two figures walked down the hall, seemingly making their way to their lockers. One was a guy, the other a girl.

The guy was tall, Probably an inch or two taller then Aidan himself. He wore a set of dark armor over the black fur of some kind of animal. By no means did the armor look light. It was defiantly some heavy duty stuff. His red dreadlocks fell down the back of his head, almost reaching his shoulders. He was the source of the disruptive loudness but judging by his demeanor, he either didn't realize it or didn't care. The way he carried himself showed a confident and aggressive personality behind his dark green eyes.

The girl was significantly shorter then "Dreads". She wore a bright red dress with silver trim along with a small belt with several loops on it, assumedly for holding things. The only real armor she had was two decorative shoulder guards that had a silvery tint to them. Her red hair was tied into two braids that fell just past her shoulder blades. Her one visible eye sparkled a light emerald shade, the other was covered by a black eye-patch. She acted in contrast to Dreads, despite having similar features. She didn't seem to have much of a part of the "conversation" that Dreads was having with her, but when she did she kept her voice down as to not disturb anyone around her. She seemed all too aware of Dreads disruptive volume and so kept her head at a lower angle and looked up as she walked.

It was fairly obvious that the two shared a close ancestry. They were like a matched set, and yet at the same time they were so different. Like two sides. Two sides to the same coin.

The hair on the back of Aidan's neck stood up at the sound of the guy's voice.

_"Its that guy from last night. But it seems like I've seem him somewhere else before."_

Ran, ever observant, noticed how Aidan reacted to the approachers.

"I take it you know them."

"Well I met Dreads last night. Let's just say we didn't hit off real well" Aidan and Ran watched as the two approached a set of lockers across the hall and begin pulling out equipment. Dreads pulled a triangular shaped piece of metal out and it extended into a circular shield, which he promptly strapped to his back, then he pulled a long halberd which he carried with both hands. Patch didn't have much equipment. She pulled out a single bandolier of small knives hung it over her shoulder. She then put a few larger, more decorative silver knives into the slots on her belt. While "Dreads" was still getting his equipment, she approached the two onlookers.

"Um... Hi. I Saw what happened last night. I wanted to apologize for my brother. He can be a bit… hard to deal with, not to mention apathetic and rude." Just the expression on her face could have said she was sorry. Her voice was quiet and maintained a calming medium pitch.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm Aidan." As Aidan had been brought up to do from a young age, he held out his hand. She promptly shook it lightly.

"I'm Megan. Nice to meet you."

"Oh! And this is Ran." Ran completely ignored the outstretched hand from the girl and put her arm around Megan's shoulders.

"What's up, I'm sure we'll be great friends" Megan looked uncomfortable for a second before laughing slightly. "I'm bet we will."

"Why are you always talking to random people, Megs?." A voice came from behind Ran and Megan. There behind them was Bruce, standing tall with his thick red eyebrows furrowed.

Megan ignored his question. "This is Ran. And I believe you have already met Aidan, right?"

"Nice to meet you, Bruce" Aidan said without extending his hand.

"Yeah... sure."

"You two had better learn to get along. We're all be going though this together so we need to at least be able to stand each other.

"You... You're right." Aidan nodded in agreement.

"Don't chastise me, Foxy." Ran's statement had only made Bruce all the more angry.

"That's it. Come on Megan, lets go."

And with that Bruce turned and stormed away.

"Sorry about that guys. He can be hard to deal with... but he's... family." Megan turned and ran after her brother.

It was then, as Bruce and Megan walked away with their backs to them, that Aidan remembered where he thought he had seen Bruce before. As both a Huntsmen-to-be and a avid fan of various combat competitions around Remnant, Aidan made sure to either record most matches or watch them in person. In the past few months, a young competitor had joined the regional tournament of Atlas. Aidan didn't remember much about him other then the red dreadlocks. A few wins at the beginning is nothing, as the overwhelming majority of the warriors get eliminated within the first few rounds. But this young fighter just kept winning, even against one or two actual huntsmen. Many chalked it up to luck but opinions were changing about him. Then something happened outside of the actual competition and he was disqualified. Could that be Bruce.

_"Nah, Why would he be here and not in Atlas." _Aidan dismissed his own thoughts.

"You could just feel the freindlyness in that conversation." She said as she shut her locker. "At least That Megan girl was nice."

"I guess so." Aidan said quietly just before an announcement came through the loudspeakers.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again would all…"

"That's our call to get going. Oh man, I can't wait. We finally get to do something. I can't wait." Ran said enthusiastically and a large grin appeared on her face. The incredible thrill of the school was immediately relighted in both of them as they made their way to the cliffs.

…

Having all gathered near the cliffs, all of the novices were lines up on small square pedestals by Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin. As Aidan looked down the row, he saw all the faces of his future classmates and a few friends. But what three of them would be on his team. Aidan turned his attention to the headmaster when he heard him begin speaking.

"For years you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald forest." Ozpin started then let Goodwitch speak. "Now I am sure many of you have heard rumors about the assigning of teams. Well allow me to us to put an end to you confusion. Each of you will be teammates, TODAY" Aidan let out a slight sigh.

Ozpin picked up "These teammates will be with you for the rest of you time here at beacon, so it is in your best interests to be paired with someone whom you can work well." He paused for effect and then continued "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be partner for the next four years." That last sentence was like a splash of cold water in the morning. If Aidan had been about to speak he would have not been completely speechless.

"After you have partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, DO NOT hesitates to destroy everything in your path or you will DIE."

"Finally some action… but now I'm kind of worried."

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene." That didn't set too well with many of the students.

"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as you standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Aidan thought he heard someone start to say something, but he must have been mistaken since the professor commanded "Good, now take your positions. "Aidan crouched down low to the pedestal and placed his left hand against it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Forrest standing still as a statue, ready for the sudden jump.

"This is it, Aidan. All your work has lead you here; this is the time to show what you're made of."

Starting from the left, the pedestals catapulted the young hunters and huntresses from the cliff into the air. Time seemed to slow as it got closer and closer to him. A grin came across his face.

"Let's do this."

His pedestal moved under his feet...

* * *

**So now we have a mysterious contract between a trading company and this new freelancer guy Robert. That will be fun. Also out of all of my characters, Megan and Bruce have been my favorite ever since I first thought them up. But anyhow, we are actually at initiation this time. I have been looking forward to this and I hope it will be as good as I think it will be.**

** I hope you guys enjoyed. If you did, or even if you didn't, please drop a review and let me know what you think. I'll always take some constructive criticism. Or if you feel like it send me a message because those are always cool to get. **

**Next time: Initation... for real**

**Blacklightning**

*Edited August 8, 2015


	4. Chapter 4: Eye Contact

**Oh man. I am so excited about this chapter. Things that I've been looking forward to writing have finally come to pass. Exactly what they, well, you will just have to read and find out. Hope you all enjoy it :D**

**I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do, however, own any and all original characters in this story unless I specifically say so.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Eye contact

The sudden jolt sent Aidan soaring into the air. For a brief couple seconds Aidan found it exhilarating. He had been caught up in the moment and focused that he forgot his dread of heights. All of his fears and negative thoughts were absent. That was when he realized that he was** _flying _off a _cliff_**.

He went into a state of panic as the falling sensation kicked in. He instinctively reacted, throwing his balance out of whack. At this rate Aidan's forethought landing strategy would be completely botched. Quickly he tried to rethink it into a new one. As he plummeted down towards the greenery below, he noticed a tree that was significantly larger than the ones surrounding it.

"_There we go." _Aidan held out his left bracer out on his side and converted it. A short barrel slid out the front of it. He quickly fired two fiery shots, propelling him on course of his desired destination. There was a few moments of waiting, no maneuvering or adjusting, just waiting as he sped towards the tree. Everything that Ozpin and Goodwitch said came back into his mind.

"_Okay, okay. Let's get things straightened out. I have to find a partner, find this temple thing, get a relic, then get back. Should be simple enough… if Grimm weren't teeming in this area. In any case, finding a partner if priority one. I can only hope I find someone who is, at the very least, bearable. Forest gets at the top of that list, hes a good fighter and I know he won't let me down. Ran would be okay too. Although i haven't actually seen her fight I get the feeling that she is very capable. That Megan girl seemed nice, so maybe her too." _Aidan had been so distracted with his mental planning that he had almost forgot what he was doing in reality. The dark bark of the tree was coming up fast… way too fast.

Aidan, in an attempt to slow himself down, stretched out his arms and legs effectively destroying any aerodynamics he had. It slowed him down but not enough to matter. Aidan extended Ravager and jabbed it as hard as he could into the tree. He glanced off the side of the tree as the blade easily ripped into bark and wood but did manage to slow him down. He crashed through a few small branches before landing on the ground with a thud, knocking any air he had left out of him. After a few agonizing moments of breathlessness, Aidan picked himself up off the ground.

"Well… That was exhilarating." Aidan said to himself as he brushed himself off. Thanks to his aura he had came out more or less unscathed besides a few bruises and cuts. A blue glow rhythmically pulsed from the blond initiate for a few moment before fading away.

"Only a little worse for ware."

A rustling noise coming from some nearby bushes caught his attention.

"Hello… hey, who is that?" Aidan, unsure as to who or what was hidden behind the greenery, stepped back and held Ravager behind him ready to strike. A deep growl radiated from the foliage…

…

Ran's axe propelled far ahead of its huntress. With the metal cord trailing behind, it coiled around a thick branch of one of the trees below. Ran swung from the branch and, despite slowing herself down considerably, was still moving fast. To remedy this, the faunus shot the spike from her left sleeve into one of the more study looking darkwoods. The spike embedded itself past the bark and into the wood before and expanded slightly, creating an anchor for its owner. She swung around the tree and planted her feet on one of the other tree and leapt to the ground. On what seemed to be a mental command from the huntress in training, the spike detached from the tree and retracted back into her sleeve just as the axe had done earlier to the other sleeve.

For a moment she just stood there, taking in her surroundings. Her heightened hearing lead her to believe that there were beings nearby, but she couldn't tell if they were other initiates or Grimm.

Just then, what seemed like a small ball of flame falling from the sky caught her attention before it smashed into the ground. While its area of impact wasn't very big, the shock from it shook the ground noticeably. The ground around it was singed significantly but not enough to catch fire. As the smoke cleared, a large figure rose from the small indentation in the ground. In one hand he clutched an axe, in the other a large circular shield. Red dreadlocks could be seen hanging out the back of his helmet. To Ran's dismay, she recognized it to be Bruce.

"Oh… It's you." Ran sighed as the two made contact.

…

Aidan dodged another strike from the ursa and slashed the throat of one of the beowolves. He was badly outnumbered with an ursa and about 4 beowolves, and that was after a minute or so of thinning down the enemy. So far he had managed to either keep away from the ursa or dodge its attacks but he could feel himself getting sloppy. Any strikes from the ursa would be very bad considering his inability to block an attack that big with just his bracers and his aura.

He leapt back again and spewed fire dust from his left bracer onto the closest beowolves, engulfing it in bright orange flames. The beowolf flailed for a few second before falling to the ground. Another beowolf jumped at him, in hopes to end him with a single bite to the back of his neck, just as Aidan dropped down to the ground to dodge yet another ursa attack. The ursa's paw smashed the airborne beowolf off into the base of a nearby tree where it no longer stirred. Aidan reverted the flamethrower into its gun form and aimed it toward the last two beowolves. The first bullet hit the closest beowolf in the face, causing it to fall back a few feet away, dead as a doornail. After a second shot, the second beowolf had a hole the size of a large fist though its upper chest and it too fell dead.

With the weakest eliminated, the hunter turned to the largest of his enemy. The ursa had backed up considerably. For a moment Aidan thought the ursa had given up and was about to retreat, but that was when it slowly started lumbering toward him. It steadily gained speed and was soon all out charging.

Aidan planted his feet firmly in the ground and held his sword arm behind him. He closed his eyes and held out his left hand as if he was telling the beast to stop. His breathing slowed down and all outside sounds disappeared. Aidan opened his eyes and beheld the world around him. Everything had almost stopped. Smoke slowly rose from the smoldering carcass of one of the beowolves. Leaves on the trees moved just enough to be noticed. Aidan looked forward to his outstretched hand. At first it wasn't even noticeable, but slowly, small blue ripples slowly pulsed from it. Behind him the same effect could be seen coming off his sword arm. With all his might, Aidan swung his blade around from behind and smashed the charging beast with the flat of the blade. All at once everything rushed back to normal and the ursa flew back and crashed onto the ground in a heap. Still feeling the effects of his semblance, Aidan smiled.

"Play time is over, chump." Aidan leapt into the air, much higher then he would have been able to in normal circumstances, and brought Ravager's tip down hard through the already broken plating on the Grimm's head. After he was sure it wouldn't move again, Aidan pulled his weapon from the ursa's skull and leaped off the monster.

Aidan took a few steps back from the lifeless body and watched as black smoke slowly rose from it. Satisfied with his work, he retracted his blade. While this wasn't his first time facing a creature of Grimm, he wasn't exactly used to battling while so outnumbered. Just another thing he would be forced to get used to.

Suddenly a loud snap could be heard above, followed by a sharp but brief scream and sound of brushing leaves. Not knowing what it was, Aidan turned quickly and aimed the gun of his left bracer towards the source. It was Megan.

She sat on the ground, her face was a slight shade of red from embarrassment and her expression containing a hint of pain.

"How did you get… Did you just fall out of the trees?" A small grin appeared on Aidan's face as he slowly lowered his arm and gun.

"It's not-argh- funny." She winced before laughing herself as she rubbed a sore spot on her leg. Aidan laughed slightly as he walked over and held out his hand to help her up. With her single good eye, Megan made eye contact with her helper. For a quick second, Aidan felt as if she wasn't really looking at him. Rather it looked as if she was looking past him, or thought him might better describe it. Suddenly, Megan blinked causing her eyes to refocus as she smiled and took his hand.

"Thanks." With a little effort Megan stood on her own two feet.

"Why on earth were you in the trees anyway. You don't exactly seem like a tree hopper." A 'tree hopper' was the name given to specialized faunus guerrilla fighters during The Faunus War. Their tactics involved travel quickly through travel by running and jumping along tree branches while remaining almost entirely undetected. However it wasn't limited to just trees, it could easily be employed in urban areas as well. Only those who were adept in stealth, agility, and speed could be able to do it. The tactic was later employed by Huntsmen and other skilled fighting forces.

"Well, I heard the commotion so I came to help if I could. By the time I got here though, you were already cleaning up. So I just watched… I guess I stepped on a weak branch." Megan said quietly as she brushed leaves off of her dress.

"Well, it looks like we've got a temple to find, partner." The two trudged off into the wood in search of the so far elusive temple.

…

One of the burning trees gave way, falling down just a few feet away from Ran. A quick slash from her katana left the attacking beowolf headless as it fell to the ground limply.

"Bruce!" She shouted having lost sight of her partner. No reply.

"Bruce, please. I need you to answer me." Ran ducked underneath the charred trunk of a tree in an effort to get away from the couple beowolves pursuing her though the fire. She knew he was nearby and that he could hear her considering how loud she called.

The two, shortly after meeting up only a few moments after landing, had found themselves in the middle of a raging forest fire. Where and how the fire had started was beyond them but how it started wasn't what was on their mind. On top of that, a pack of beowolves had found them and decided to take it upon themselves to effectively stop them from leaving the firestorm. In the ensuing chaos, Bruce and Ran had gotten separated.

To Ran's relief, up ahead she saw the end of the flames. Just as she was about out though, she was forced to pull up as a tree fell right in front of her. She looked over to see a beowolf standing at the trunk. It was much different from the rest of the pack. It was massive easily dwarfing the rabble she had been fighting before. Large bones jutted out of its arms and back and had bone plating along its chest. Its face seemed to be contorted into a smile, which was a little more than unsettling. Instead of just blatantly charging at her though, it stood completely still and seemed to be observing her. Determining if she was a major threat or an easy kill.

Slowly it stepped forward, apparently judging her as the latter. From behind it emerged several other beowolves. Ran quickly considered her options.

"_I can run back into the flames or I can face this thing… There is no way I am going back into the fire, that would mean death." _

She pointed her left arm off at one of the trees and shot out her grapple spike in an effort to gain the high ground. She gasped in surprise when the beowolf snatched the metal cord from the air. It yanked back hard on it, causing her to fly forward right into a blow from the overly powerful enemy. She smashed into the ground, knocking the air out of her. Again and again it heaved her body back and forth, slamming her into the ground time and time again. Finally The beast let go and Ran's limp figure plowed though a smaller tree trunk. Her armor and aura soaked up plenty of otherwise crippling damage yet she was still completely disoriented and hurt as she looked up at what would no doubt soon be her demise. Just as the claw of the beast came down to finish the job, something came in between the ravenous monster and the fallen huntress.

There above Ran stood the unmoving form of Bruce. His steel round-shield had stopped the beasts blow dead in its tracks. The 'megawolf' stood back and seemed to reevaluate things.

"Get up, foxy. I'll deal with this, you keep the small ones off me." Bruce's voice growled out of his helmet. Ran wiped some blood off her forehead. Although still slightly disoriented, she slowly climbed to her feet, obviously pained.

"Lets go, Onna." She whipped out her katana pointed it at the beowolves who were circling around.

Bruce meanwhile had charged directly at the megawolf. He easily ducked under its first swipe at him and brought his axe down hard onto its exposed arm. The severed forearm fell to the ground and smoke slowly began to rise out of it. The beast roared in pain and jumped back. Taking the brief moment of opportunity, Bruce transformed his weapon back into its halberd for and jabbed its pointed end at the mega wolf's chest. The plating partially deflected it, but a large chunk of the bone flew off as well.

The large beast took a couple more swipes at its smaller opponent, only only one of them actually landing. Bruce took his halberd and swept it at the megawolf's megawolf was no longer smiling and was backing off more and more. That was when it turned tail and all out ran for it.

Bruce, wanting to end the monster, charged after.

**"Come back here and fight me."** Bruce yelled as he lost sight of it into the greenery. Bruce was not a fast runner. Quickly switching his halberd into its shotgun form, he fired a shells into the brush.

***THROOM* **

***THROOM***

***THROOM***

There was no indication he his his unseen target.

**"Yeah, go on. Run like a sissy." **He kicked the dirt angrily. You could tell that the Grimm escaping made him pretty angry.

As Bruce turned to look back for his partner, a beowolf's head landed near his feet.

"GO TEAM." Ran yelled enthusiastically as she raised her hand for a high-five. Bruce glared at her until she put her arm down. When she finally did he put his shield onto his back and gripped his shotgun with both hands.

"Come on foxy. We still have ground to cover." That was all he said, without even looking at, much less consulting his partner, and started walking. Ran jogged up next to him.

"Look Bruce. Communication is a thing everybody has to do, especially when they will be relying on each other. Back there, I didn't know what you were planning or where you even were. I needed your help."

With his helmet gone, which he collapsed back into a small piece of metal on the back of his neck, you could tell he was was focused... and angry. To be honest, Ran didn't know what on earth he was thinking.

Finally he said through gritted teeth "Look, Foxy. If you can't handle yourself, you are just dragging me down."

Ran's eyebrows furrowed as she retorted with a twinge of anger in her voice. "I can handle myself fine." Ran was starting to getting fairly riled herself, so she left it at that and said nothing else. The two continued to walk together in a tense silence.

…

"... I think we've been past this rock before." Megan put her hands on her hips as she looked down at a nearby boulder

"I think you're right." Aidan itched his head and frowned at the ground. The two shared an exasperated sigh.

"Lets just keep going. We are bound to find something… hopefully." Aidan said as the two sped up to a brisk walk.

"So where are you from, Aidan?"

"Born and raised in Vaise. Its a really nice place if you can get over all the horrible weather it gets.

"I don't know much about geography. Where is that?" Megan looked at the tree branches above as they walked.

"Oh. Um, Vaise is a coastal port like Vale. If you go east by train, you can get there in a day or two." He glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of their objective through the dark brush that surrounded them. "How about yourself, where are you from?"

"Um… Uh…" The question distracted her from… whatever it was she was looking at above. She stuttered and didn't seem to either know how or want to answer.

"Well… you see… Bruce and I were abandoned as children, so I don't actually know where we come from. We lived most of our lives in Springfield though."

"Ohh, Atlas huh. I've never been to Atlas myself but I've heard it's freezing up there for the majority of the year. I dont see how anyone can live there." Aidan said, shaking his head slightly. Megan laughed.

"You're thinking the northern parts of Atlas. The southern areas aren't anywhere near as cold… Aidan stop where you are right now." Megan's face had suddenly gone into a look of seriousness as she lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. Aidan obliged and went into full alert as he quickly scanned around him.

"What is it? Whats wrong?"

"Haven't you noticed how dark it's been getting. There is no way it got dark out that quickly… and on top of that it's only a little ways into the afternoon."

It was true. In the back of Aidan's mind he had already noticed this but had thought it was ridiculous, that it must have been his imagination. Now that he had the notion shoved right in his face, he noticed that light could barely get through tough the branches, and he was slowly losing the ability to make things out in the increasing darkness. He could see multiple movements from the branches above, and that was when he realized just what it was. His heartbeat sped up considerably.

"Ow… what the..!?" Something fell from the branches above and landed on Megan's shoulder. She reactively brushed it away and jumped back as she realized what it was. There on the ground was a two foot in diameter starch black spider. Its blood red eyes were easily seen especially in this darkened forest.

"**THERAS!" **Megan let out a bloodcurdling scream and as quick as you can blink, a silver knife impaled the spider into the ground. A single chirp quickly escaped the corpse as it died. With that hundreds of Theras lept down from the obscured branches onto the initiates.

Trying to think quickly, Aidan sent a quick burst of flame into the air. The smaller Grimm landed on the ground, burnt to a crisp. Larger ones, some even as large as beowolves, weathered the heat and landed smoldering but alive. Megan whipped out two or her larger knives and delved into them, dicing them into several pieces.

Aidan slashed one of the closer bugs in the head, causing it to split.

"**Megan, we need to fight these things in an open area, we can't fight them were they have the advantage."**

"**Its worse than that. They don't just have the advantage… this is their home. We must be right next to the nest." **Megan shouted back, although it was hard to hear her due to the chirping of the swarming Grimm.

"**But if we are near the nest… then that means-" **A loud series of stomps could be heard but the making was nowhere in sight. Aidan shoved back yet another Thera and swiped a couple of the smaller ones off her arms. Megan cast a vial of blue dust into the ground underneath a group of larger theras. The vial shattered on impact; promptly freezing any spider limbs in contact with the ground in place. Suddenly she retreated behind her partner.

**"I have an idea, just**** keep them off me for a minute."** Aidan wasn't able to turn around to see what his partner was doing but put trust in her to get them out of this.

"**I… I think **_**it's**_ **getting closer." **Aidan quickly turned his attention to the direction of the stomps. That was when 8 glowing eyes came into view. Whatever it was, it completely out-sized all of the other Grimm. It was definitely much much bigger. It was the Queen.

Megan chucked down a series of knives into seemingly random places between them and the largest it. The handles of each knife yellow with black lines going down it. A single white skill rested at the bottom. As Aidan saw this, he understood.

"**Wait until it's a bit closer. We will need as much shock from this as we can."** As the Queen got closer, the eyes got larger and larger. They still couldn't actually see the Ginormous grimm yet but you could feel it coming closer.

"**Almost… there… NOW!" **

"**GOT IT!" **Both initiates turned and shielded their eyes Megan tapped a small button on her arm. There was a large flash and a series of small explosions.

The next thing Aidan knew the ground below him gave way. Hunter and spider alike fell into the blackness that lay below.

* * *

**Oh man. This is my favorite chapter yet. We got to see Aidan's semblance, a little thing I like to call Focus. We also got to see who the partners are. That should be fun, especially with how different Ran and Bruce are. On top of that I finally got to include spider grimm... Freaking spider grimm! I hope you all enjoyed this but there is no way you did as much as I did. **

**Blacklightning**

**Next time: Arachnophobia!?**

*Edited on august 9, 2015


	5. Chapter 5: Arachnophobia

**Hey guys and welcome back. As always I'm happy to present you with another chapter.**

**I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do, as always, own any and all Original characters in this story unless I specifically say so.**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter 5: Arachnophobia

Ran let out a small sigh. She had tried to make several attempts at talk with Bruce but none of them bore any fruit. She felt up at her wound on the top left side of her forehead. Her fingers came back down into her gaze with a bit of blood on the tips.

_"Why is it still bleeding. Ergh it hurts."_ She wiped it off on her armor and looked over to where her partner sat.

Bruce sat cleaning the head of his halberd. The grimm they had exterminated earlier had left a bit of their ashy remains on the polished steel.

"So… how long have you been gunning for Beacon?" Ran said, again trying to start a conversation. Bruce sighed.

"To be honest this has never really been a goal for me. An opportunity just opened one day for both me and my sister so we took it." Bruce licked his thumb and rubbed the last black speck off his weapon. Satisfied he reverted his weapon from halberd into its axe form and clipped it to his belt.

"Wow. I heard that tons of people who actually work toward getting into this place get rejected." Ran said, thoroughly impressed.

"How about yourself, huh. I bet this place is just a dream come true for you."

Ran thought for a moment before replying. "Not a dream really. I suppose you could say that I've had my eye on Beacon for a long time though."

"That's basically what I said." Bruce rolled his eyes. He noticed her touching her wound on her forehead again. "Here, it looks like you need this." He pulled a small black cloth tied around his arm off and tossed it to her. Ran was caught off guard by this unforeseen act of kindness but easily grabbed it. Quickly she dabbed it along her forehead, wiping away some of the blood.

"Thank you so much. I was afraid I'd have to use a leaf or something." Ran smiled gratefully she wrapped it around her forehead and tied it in the back.

"Yeah… don't mention it." Bruce looked partially embarrassed by the gratitude.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, we need to get moving and find this stupid temple." Ran got up and the two began their search again.

…

Ran and Bruce stood side by side before a large gaping hole in the side of a cliff face.

"Hello!" Ran yelled into the cave. Almost immediately her voice came back out, much quieter than the original. Bruce grinned as an idea popped into his head.

"They didn't say the temple was above ground did they."

"To be honest, I don't remember a lot of what they said." Ran brushed some of her long hair our of her eyes.

"Foxy, I'm sure this is it. Let's go."

"I bet you just want out of the sun. With all that black fur it's no wonder you're so hot." Bruce chuckled to himself at Ran's deduction.

"I couldn't have said it any better myself."

"You're so immature." Ran scoffed and rolled her eyes, her face slightly red.

Bruce quickly made a torch and the two entered the tunnel like cave. Bruce lead the way with the torch and Ran followed close behind.

"Maybe this was a bad idea." Ran thought to herself as they spelunked further and further. The tunnel twisted and turned. Once there was even a steep drop and then more level walking. Ambient noises echoed though from time to time but no living creature was actually ever seen.

Suddenly the tunnel narrowed and Bruce smashed his head into a chunk of dirt that hung lowered then the ceiling. At the same time his foot caught on a root near the ground, causing him the fall to the ground.

"Arrrgh. Really?" Bruce grabbed the torch.

"Bruce, look." Ran said motioning him to look up.

As he did so, he noticed that the ceiling had opened into a large cavern. It seemed that the tunnel had only narrowed for a few feet before expanding into it.

The cavern was large and smelled awful. Large scratch mark were all over the cave as if something had been in there for a long time. Somehow a sense of calmness lived in the obviously ravaged place. A small little pool had formed due to this water a few feet away. The other half of the cavern remained beyond their sight.

"Wow…" Ran walked forward a few paces and stood in awe of the serenity of it all. This was the type of place she craved from time to time.

"I don't like the look of this place." Bruce picked himself off the ground. Suddenly a large gust of wind blew from the other side of the cavern, blowing out the torch and leaving the two in darkness.

"..."

"I don't think the cave likes you either." Ran grinned to herself in the darkness. Bruce completely ignored her comment, he was thinking hard about how he could fix this.

"Ahh… ehhhh… hmmm. You're a faunus, right. Can't you see in here anyway."

"Dude, it's, like, completely black in here. If there was even a little bit of light down here I might be able to, but no. Sorry."

"Errgh. Feel around for the wall. If we find it, we should be able to make our way out of here." Bruce held his hands out in front of him, and began slowly moving forward. Ran was the first to reach one of the walls and began making her way down the edge.

"I-um… yeah! Hey, Bruce I think I've found a way out."

"Give me a second, I'll try and make my way to you. For once you can talk to your heart's content.

"Well, I really wanted to talk about how awesome this cavern is. What if their is some sort of secret hidden in a secret code or something on one of the walls. That would be so amazing. Have you ever wonder those kinds of thing, like if things were hidden just out of your sight and you missed them. Sometimes I-"

"Alright, alright. Thats enough, I'm here. Sheesh. I know I said "heart's content" but don't take it literally." Bruce stopped a feet short of Ran. Ran ears perked up in the darkness.

"What on earth is that?" As if one cue a few rocks and pieces of dirt fell from the ceiling. A few large periodic thuds came from up above. Then silence.

"What on earth was that?" Ran said more or less to herself.

Suddenly a bright white light filled the room, immediately followed by a loud rumbling. The roof of the cavern suddenly began to collapse. Large rocks and dirt crashed down onto the floor. The sudden light had effectively blinded them, so the two were lucky to be inside the passage otherwise they may have been crushed.

As the dust cleared and the two began gaining their eyesight again, they observed the scene. Numerous figures lay scattered across the earthy wreckage however two of them caught their eyes.

"Megan!" Bruce breathed out, utterly surprised. Pushing past Ran, he quickly made his way across the rubble over to his sister. He quickly picked her up out of the dirt.

"Are- are you alright? Please tell me you're fine." Bruce said, almost frantic with concern.

"Bruce? I... I'm fine. You don't need to help me stand." Megan smiled brightly, overjoyed at being reunited with her twin.

"The ground collapsed?" Aidan pushed a couple stones off himself and stood up a little disoriented and confused by the event that had just befallen him. "Megan, you okay?" Megan nodded and smiled lightly at the consideration.

"Well, if it isn't the dynamic duo." Ran approached the three.

As it turns out, Megan's escape plan was to throw down some explosive knives containing a flashing powder to blind and shock all of the theras. Theras are easily blinded temporarily by normal light, so Megan thought that maybe a harsh flash could completely mess up their senses. That would leave them an easy escape. That was her idea anyway. But as it seems, the ground underneath them was just waiting to collapse into the cavern below and the small explosion was just enough to do just that.

Suddenly Aidan remembered just what they were running away from. Quickly he turned around and saw the hairy and grotesque figure of the Queen thera buried underneath a large amount of dirt and rock. It stood up slowly and all of the earth fell from its body. All four of the initiates looked with fear at the gigantic predatory insect.

It made no move whatsoever at them, Instead it chirped deeply , seemingly communicating to its smaller counterparts. A chorus of small chirps of various level replied from above. All of the ones that fell must have died.

"It worked." Megan whispered to herself. "I can't believe it actually worked."

"Why isn't hasn't it ripped us to shreds yet? It is more then able to." Ran asked, a little freaked by the creature itself, never mind the size.

"I… I think its blind. Look at its eyes. They look cloudy instead of the whole, you know, red death they usually have." Aidan observed closely.

"Guys, I think we have got company." Ran shivered as she looked up to where Bruce pointed.

Small spiders slowly climbed down the walls of the now caved in cavern. It seemed as though not all had been affected by Megan's plan

"We need to get out of here, guys. Now." Aidan said as he readied his weapon and backed slightly toward the tunnel escape.

A defining trait about the theras was their weakness. Young theras could be crushed easily with a well placed step and they didn't develop any sort of armor until they grow to about the size a large person. Alone they posed almost no threat to skilled hunters until they were larger than a vehicle, which was not rare. However these grimm never attacked alone. They were extremely well coordinated and threw themselves at their adversaries and prey by the hundred and sometimes even thousand. Villages, towns and even some cities have been known to be completely over run due to a nearby nest of them. That was the predicament the initiates faced.

Bruce scoffed as he saw all three others carefully 'advancing in another direction'. "You bunch of pansies." Bruce stepped forward and uncollapsed his shield, producing a loud metal crash as the metal smashed together forming the circle.

The Queen, having finally recovered, straightened up and shifted quickly then jumped in the direction of the sound. One of its large branch-like feet slammed into Bruce before he could even reacted, sending him flying back.

"Ahhh, watch out!" Ran shouted as Bruce flew in their direction. All three finally broke and made a break for the opening. Bruce slammed into them just as they made it into the tunnel. All of them crashed into the opening. Each of them quickly retreated further in after they gained their feet.

The spider knew it had missed its target and in a rage began scraping and biting at the tunnel entrance, crushing a few spawnlings that had been quick enough to pursue their targets. The small tunnel entrance crumbled, blocking the theras out and the initiates in. After a few moments of vicious screeching and stomping, the monstrous thera quieted down. The four were all sitting in darkness, adrenaline still flowing through their veins.

"Well this seems familiar." No hint of amusement could be heard in Bruce's voice. "Good thing you're here, Megan. Do your thing."

"... Alright, give me a second." Suddenly a small but bright light appeared. It came from a small flame that appeared from a small red symbol that seemed embedded in the center of Megan's palm.

"I don't think we will be needing that for long." Ran said looking off down the tunnel. A vague amount of light could be barely seen.

…

"I'm never going underground again." Bruce said as the sunlight hit his face. All four of the initiates emerged from the tunnel, more or less unscathed. Megan extinguished her flame with a clench of her fist and beheld the area before her.

"Is… is that what I think it is?" A large smile spread across her face. Looking past tree trunks and leaves, the group could see a large clearing with some sort of structure near the center of it.

"I think so. It looks like a temple… sort of. In any case it looks old." Aidan chuckled.

As they got closer, they could see that the stone structure in greater detail. Small out of place pedestals of a newer type of stone than that of the rest of the structure were set up in a semicircle around the floor. Placed on the center of each was a small object. However nobody saw the dime sized black spider hanging down in the shadows of the stones.

"Chess pieces?" Bruce said flabbergasted. He had been expecting something a little more magnificent than the small seemingly meaningless objects before him. "We came all this way for these?"

Megan brought her hand up to her forehead. "What were you expecting? It doesn't matter what the artifacts are, just that we get them back to the cliffs. Judging the number of empty pedestals, it looks like others got here before us." It was true. More than a couple of the pedestals lacked their respective chess pieces.

"They said that each pair needed one artifact. Do you think it matters which we get." Ran consulted Bruce we looked let down by the simple artifacts.

"Just grab one and be done with it." Bruce huffed out as looked out into the forest where they came from, thoroughly disinterested in the artifacts.

"He needs to lighten up some, jeez." Ran said under her breath as she carefully considered which selection she would make.

Megan walked over to her twin and put her hand on his shoulder. Aidan decided to let them talk and picked up one of the nearer pieces that had caught his eye to.

"The black rook." Aidan mind quickly went back to happier times when he would play chess with his family. He had almost always bested his Mother and younger siblings but he had never quite gotten to the point of being able to beat his father at it.

The rook inparticular was Aidan's favorite piece out of all of them, even above the queen. He wasn't sure what it was he liked about them. Maybe it was that they always looked strong. Able to withstand worst attack or the most powerful storm. Who knows what it was about them, even Aidan didn't.

"Sheesh, I need to stop being so melancholic." Aidan quickly stuffed the dark piece into his pocket.

Meanwhile at the edge of the temple looking out into the green forest Megan and Bruce talked quietly.

"Can't you just get along with people? Seriously, we can trust them. These are the good guys." Megan whispered to her twin.

"Some wounds don't heal, Meg. I can't risk anything like that happening to you again… I would never forgive myself." Bruce clenched his fist and glanced back at Aidan out of the corner of his eye. "Especially gold hair over there." Megan shook her head before wrapping her arms around her brother.

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad you're okay." Bruce nodded and slightly put his arm around her small body. He looked over, something catching his attention from the treeline.

Suddenly a loud goosebump-inducing crack could be heard from the trees at the edge of the clearing.

"Guys, it's back!" Bruce shouted back to Ran and Aidan.

* * *

**Well, I hope you guys like this chapter. I would get quick flashes of inspiration during my writing but a lot of it never actually stuck. Hope you all enjoyed it. **

**We finally get some incite into Megan and Bruce in this chapter, you know with it being their first non introductory chapter. I Really like both of the twins specifically. Let me know which of the characters is your favorite so far or if there is a way I can improve on them. Feel free to leave a review or drop me a message as always. **

**Blacklightning**

**Next time: Wooden Casket (dun dun DUN!)**


	6. Chapter 6: A Bottomless Tomb

**Hey guys, welcome back. I'm not sorry to say but it looks like I'm wrapping up initiation this chapter. For some reason it has been just awful trying to write though it. As always I hope You will all enjoy and keep reading the future chapters **

**I do not own RWBY. RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum, rest in peice. I do, however, own all original characters in this story unless they are specifically pointed out.**

* * *

Chapter 6: A Bottomless Tomb

In a split second, all four turned toward the source of the sound. There, just at the forest's edge, was the Queen Thera. It looked awful, more than it would have under normal circumstances. The spider emerged from the forest, its originally beautiful ornate ivory plating on it's head was shattered and cracked from the repeated blows from rocks and the sturdy trees. Many thick gashes remained in its unarmored areas along with thick tree branches which unnaturally jutted out. It was a shell of its former magnificence as it broke out into the clearing.

Around the legendary beast's hairy black legs stood the remnants of its spawn. Many of them, like their queen, had the white glossy eyes of blindness. However, more than a few of them smaller monsters had almost fully maintained their sight, only slightly impaired by the sun. These Grimm would occasionally chirp and make other sharp noises, something theras didn't do under normal circumstances. The spawnlings gathered around their 'mother', seemingly an attempt to regroup. The more soldier-like of them stood on their own from the Queen but still nearby.

"We need to go, NOW." Aidan said as he surveyed the grimm. He noted that despite having exterminated a considerable amount of them, they were still a force that could easily overwhelm them

Aidan turned and ran toward the cliffs that peaked up just over the treetops in the far distance. Megan lovingly tapped her brother on the shoulder and ran after her partner. Bruce knew certain death awaited him if he remained to fight the horde by himself and so, despite all his instincts and desires telling him to fight, retreated along with his comrades. Ran, knowing time was running out, settled on the first chess piece that caught her eye as her artifact: a black rook which unlike all the other pieces seemed to have fallen to its side. Why choose this one? Deep inside she knew exactly why, but let's just say that she found the image of a fallen tower relatable. She unceremoniously grabbed it off of its overturned position and ran after the others.

Having its spawn finally consolidated around itself, the Queen walked forward with long spidery strides. The smaller theras raced after the fleeing initiates at a slightly faster rate than the queen all the while continuing their loud chirping. While in the clearing the huntsmen and huntresses to be would have an advantage of speed, but the moment the spiders grimm reached the forest they would be in their element and would quickly overtake the four.

…

Megan whipped around and slashed one of the pursuing theras across the 'face' with one of her silvery knives. Bruce ran beside her, his shield battering away the enemy while his axe chopped any that got past that.

"Where are Aidan and Ran?" Megan asked over the chirping as she leaped over a fallen tree trunk and dodged a smaller spider leaping from the trees above.

"I saw Foxy in the treetops a little while ago, but it looks like Whats-his-face got separated somewhere. To be honest I wasn't really paying attention." He wiped some ash from his shoulder looked back up to the branches above, hoping to see a glimpse of his partner.

High above in the trees, out of the sight of her friends or the enemy, Ran leapt from branch to branch. She never missed a step or slowed, keeping her feet swift and her eyes sharp all the while. Only a little ways ahead she could see the grey cliffs. The wind had picked up considerably, with the hot sun disappearing behind the dull clouds causing the temperature to drop noticeably.

"I hope it doesn't rain." Ran thought to herself, as she had never been one to like the rain. Carefully, she dropped down from the upper branches and slowly descended, branch by branch, back down the the forest floor. As she caught back up to her normal speed, she could feel the ground trembling as each of the Queen's feet stuck the ground. Far behind her she could hear the almost silent scuttling of the Theras spawn chasing their prey. Simply the thought of the horde and Queen would fill anyone with chills, so Ran had an excuse.

Finally she burst out from the trees and stopped short of a large crevice separating where she was and the cliff face. The chasm dropped down into a seemingly endless void with the bottom bottom hidden behind a thick mist. The gap was extremely wide and was impassable by normal means.

"Uh oh, that's not good." Ran whispered to herself. Carefully she weighed her options and more closely observed the chasm. Remains in the form of stone pillars lurked right above the mist, as if a small bridge had collapsed a long time ago. Across the gap, near the base of the cliffs, a steep staircase seemed to be etched into the rock which rose up to the tops of the cliffs.

Before she reached a decision on what to do, a couple shots rang out from the forest, causing a few small birds to fly away in fright from the trees. Ran stopped short and gripped Onna, her sword, in its sheath. A few yells followed before two red haired individuals sprinted out from the wood. Bruce tried to stop himself and balanced on the edge of the chasm for a second before Megan pulled him back. One of the larger theras emerged after them, ready to pounce on the two unready initiates, only to be 'cut off' by an axe swiping its head from the rest of its body. The beast fell to the ground as the axe quickly wizzed back to its owner.

"Where's Aiden?" Ran yelled over to the twins as they made their way over to her.

"I don't know, we lost him a little ways back." Bruce reverted his weapon from its shotgun form to its halberd version.

"He probably just fell a little behind." Megan suggested as she scanned the trees for any sight of her partner or the enemy.

"Whatever happened to him, we have to get to the other side of this. This should be the edge of the emerald forest if I remember right. Any ideas?" Ran said as she contemplated. Bruce turned away from the forest, as he trusted his sister to watch his back.

"Well, What if we should head down the edge until we find a more narrow crossing. It can't be this wide forever, right?" Bruce grabbed a rock and chucked it into the void as Megan suggested this.

"That's stupid, Megs." Bruce said, mercilessly shooting her suggestion down "We need to get over ASAP. We don't have time to go looking for a better crossing."

Ran chuckled and landed a more the light punch of Bruce's arm.

"I hope you like tightroping." And with that contextless statement, she backed away from the edge a dozen feet and charged full blast at the edge. With impressive speed she shot away and arced into the fog.

"The heck!?" Bruce exclaimed, confused on a variety of levels.

"Did she just kill herself?"

Then the twins saw Ran's axe rise from the fog and hook around on of the stone pillars rising slightly from it. After a few second Ran flew from the void and landed on the far side of the chasm unharmed.

"How do ya' like me now." She shouted back to the two.

…

Aidan brought his foot down hard on the head of one of his grimm assailants followed by a dull crunch. Quickly he scanned the immediate area for his artifact.

Dang it, not here either." Aidan brought Ravager around and ran it up though the chest of a charging beowolf. "Where in the world did it go. I couldn't have lost it that long ago."

Aidan knew the queen was coming. And he felt the dread and panic inside him increase with each passing second. And that theras and beowolves didn't help the situation any.

Aidan jumped over a dead tree trunk and again scanned the ground. Nothing. A small spawnling jumped down from the trees above and attempted to chomp down on his back. A sharp pain ran through his body as he slammed backward into the tree trunk, easily crushing the tiny monster.

"Uh oh, my aura is faltering." As if on cue Aidan felt sick to his stomach in more ways than one. "Ugh, at least these things aren't poisonous."

Getting down on his hands and knees, Aidan searched closely around the area. He was sure that it had to be around somewhere. If he couldn't find it, he risked death or causing himself and Megan to fail initiation. The he spotted the black wood of the tiny tower.

"There you are you chunk of wood." Aidan said gleefully to himself and he snatched it from the shadows and put it away. "And not a moment too soon." An all too familiar rhythmic thudding could be felt in the ground, giving him a chill down his spine. It was definitely getting closer.

With no reason to be chilling in the grass and moss, Aidan quickly got to his feet and hurried toward the cliffs.

…

"Just don't look down." Ran shouted across with a chuckle.

"Shut up. That never works." Megan said, less then happy about the wind shifting the metal tightrope back and forth slightly. At one end of the rope stood Ran who had pulled it tight around a rock that stuck out of the ground. At the other, the spike end had implanted itself into the bottom of one of the tree near the forest's edge. Bruce, wanting to make sure it wouldn't break for his lightweight sister, had already crossed and stood at the far side with his arms crossed. While he was confident in his sister's ability, a slight amount of concern could be just barely be seen on his face.

Carefully Megan put one foot on the thin cord followed by the other. She didn't waste any time and was soon moving one foot after the other as carefully as she could while moving faster than a turtle with a broken leg.

Shots in rapid succession could be heard in the distance, not near enough to be of any concern of the trio but not too far away to be quiet.

"Just focus on what you're trying to do. The faster you get over here, the sooner we'll be out of this stupid forest." Bruce yelled out.

"I'm trying."

It was at this moment that Aidan, came into Ran and Bruce's view. His wavy blond hair blown back out of it natural state, he stopped exhausted at the tree that Ran's metal tightrope remained attached to.

Still mostly out of breath he yelled out to his partner. "Get over as quickly as you can. The grimm are just back there." Carefully lifting off the metal plate on his vambrace, Aidan ejected an empty magazine of dust rounds and tucked it away on his belt before grabbing a fresh mag and jamming it in.

"Hey!" Ran waved slightly from across the way. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows slightly but said nothing. Megan was happy to see that her partner was alright but decided now was not the time to express it. More determined, she turned back and continued her tense and perilous trip.

Aidan turned back to the dark woods just as a beowolf jumped out and smashed into him, almost driving him off the edge. Quickly Aidan slashed left and right with his blade before flipping over behind the beast. Kicking the beowolf off the edge into the abyss, he leaped back into the forest to make sure he didn't receive another close call like that again.

Seeing this, Bruce wished he had gotten his sister to cross first instead of himself. If he had then she would already be out of harm's way and he may have been able to dirty his axe some more.

Megan moved ever closer to the opposite side, drawing nearer and nearer by the second. soon enough, despite the frequent wind gusts that seemed to come from the chasm below and unsettled the cord, she made it to the other side.

"Alright Aidan, Your turn!" Ran shouted out to her friend.

Aidan brought his boot swiftly down on the one of one of the enemy theras, producing a sickening crunch as it smashed through the exoskeleton. Not missing a beat, he whipped Ravager around and cleaved another in half though its midsection. Upon hearing the 'okay', Aidan made his way back to the ledge. The spike at the end of Ran's grapple seemed to still be strongly hooking into the tree but just the thought of the chasm below filled him with an inherent dread.

"Now that I think about this…" Aidan swallowed hard, knowing full well what remained for him if he didn't cross.

Trying not to think about it, he forced his foot on the thin metal strand. Each step thereafter was agonizing, he could just feel his insides screaming at him for this just as he was internally doing. Grimm emerged from the forest and stood at the edge, one or two of the smaller ones falling from the edge. However, Aidan was too far out for them to reach him, and most of the grimm lacked the motor skills to be able to come after him on the cord. The spawnlings that could easily skitter over it after him were not there. And thus he felt at ease, well as much as a person who was afraid of heights could be over heights.

Then the entire cord lurched.

Careful to turn around slowly and keep his balance, he looked back to see the grimm ripping into the tree that acted as an anchor for the cord.

"Great. Just great."

The cord lurched again, the spike anchored into the wood giving slightly away. Ran, at the other end, readjusted herself and pulled the cord tight again in an attempt to maintain the cords tension.

Aidan knew if this kept up that it would be the end for him if he didn't react fast. Quickly he raised his left arm, leveling the small black barrel toward the grimm.

It was, in this moment that a lot happened at once. The Queen's long black legs emerged from out of the greenery, revealing to all four of the initiates that their problems had caught up to them. The cord gave way again slightly causing it to unbalance Aidan's aim, just as he fired a single 44 magnum dust round. The bullet smashed into the wood right next to the anchor, causing splinters to fly and the spike to completely dislodge from the tree. Aidan suddenly felt weightless, as one of his greatest fears suddenly became a reality. All he could feel was a sharp chill go down his spine as he began to plummet downward.

Ran, who had been using her body to leverage the cord, fell onto the ground in an unceremonious clamor as her metal armor smashed into the rock. Megan watched in horror as she watched her partner disappear into the fog below.

"AIDAN!" Megan yelled as she stared down hopelessly into the unknown.

"Did that seriously just happen." Bruce said a little flabbergasted. "Our first time to show our skills and somebody dies. That's just great."

Ran sat on the ground in silence.

The somber mood was cut off prematurely as they heard a loud thud followed by a grown.

"If you guys don't mind. I'd like to come up please." The voice of the blond echoed up the chasm.

As Aidan was falling he had inadvertently grabbed onto Ran's cable. Upon realizing what it was, he held onto it for dear life until he slammed into the side of the chasm.

Bruce smiled slightly. "Darn it, I thought we were rid of you." He yelled down to Aidan as Ran slowly withdrew her grapple, thus pulling Aidan up with it. Aidan slowly appeared from the fog and looked back across to see the cut off pursuers.

Many of the grimm knew their prey were beyond their reach and slowly dispersed. Other, most of the younger and inexperienced ones remained at the edge out of simple stupidity. However the Queen, certainly the smartest and most clever of them all, remained still. Its spawnlings remained at its side chirping away with high pitched noises in unknown communication.

"Uh, guys… It's not leaving. I don't know how to feel about this?" Megan said as she rushed over to the edge to help Aidan onto firm ground. As she did, she watched the spawnling theras begin to climb up their 'mother's' legs.

The Queen slowly extended one of its long spikes of feet and hesitantly moved it out toward one of the stone pillars that jutted just out of the fog. Amazingly its foot reached the pillar and the Queen brought another leg forward.

"Its… Its crossing." Ran whimpered out, utterly bewildered at the gigantic creature.

The stone pillars were just large enough and spaced so that the Queen was able to move along them with little trouble.

Bruce and Megan both attacked the monstrosity with Bruce firing round after round from his Halberd and Megan tossing various knives at it as well. Ran approached from behind and, realizing she was of very little use at long range, leaped from the edge and grappled her way over towards the beast. The Queen stopped almost halfway through its advance as Ran swung near and focused more of its attention on smacking the faunus away with one of its black legs.

Aidan raised his arm at the Queen but hesitated as he saw a bit of rock fall from the side of one of the pillars after one of Megan's knives bounced away and exploded nearby. With everyone's various attempts to slay the beast having little to no effect, he reloaded his vambrace with a different magazine decorated with a white band.

"Quick everybody, take out those pillars." Aidan shouted to the other initiates and shot three rounds into the stone underneath the monster. The ancient pillar, however strong and masterfully built long ago, could not stand the test of time. The bullets made impact and exploded, causing large chunks of stone to fly away and fall into the abyss below.

The twins quickly realized what Aidan was talking about and turned their attention to the pillar rather than the distracted grimm. Ran grappled to one of the pillars and arched just over the the bone plating of the Queen. Quickly she slashed a few times, but didn't manage to penetrate the armor. She did this a few times, all the while the miniature grimm trying their best to do damage in return, but only once or twice managed to actually damage it. The Queen let out a high pitch screech and swiped at her once more. Under normal circumstances, this beast would have been much quicker, however that didn't mean it wasn't still fast in comparison. Ran tried her best to deflect the blow but was hit directly and was sent flying back toward her friends, crash landing into the ground.

This whole time however the Queen, clever as it was, did not realize what danger it was in. Thus by the time it turned its attention back to the other three it was already too late. The pillar it had centralized most of its weight on began to collapse. It was already out of reach of the pillar behind it, so there was no longer a retreat.

The pillar, due to the chunks of stone being taken out on the side facing the initiates, began to fall in their direction. Sensing this motion, the Queen rose the tower and pounced in hope of reaching the other side. The remaining spawnlings flew off from the sudden movement and plunged down into the abyss. The Queen, however, rocketed over the last pillar and reached out its front legs for the rocky ledge.

Now, no doubt you have seen something like one of these creepy devils on a vertical surface somewhere watching you while you sleep or something like that. This ability is not something that these creatures have due to their difference in size in places other than on their own webs. You can imagine the result of a beast with a body the size of a tank trying to climb up a ledge with only a few of its legs actually gripping the top.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Aidan, Megan, Ran, and Bruce all just looked at the two branch sized spider legs holding on for dear life. Ran's face had become extremely pale and everyone else was rather shook up as well.

Finally Bruce spoke up. "Uh… Someone should finish it off or something. We can't just leave it here." It was clear that nobody actually wanted to get too close to it.

Aidan, after another few seconds of complete silence, stepped forward toward the edge.

Looking over the edge made him feel more than a little uneasy but not because of the height. The creature of both atrocity and beauty stared up at him with a look of hatred and hunger.

"You'd better hope the there is a bottom down there because you are gonna want the fall to kill you before the flames do." Aidan said to the monster as he reverted his left wrist armor to its flamethrower form. Focusing hard, everything went into slow motion. The small flame coming out of the barrel seemed to form a sharp point and Aidan could feel his aura building up in the weapon. Finally he was ready to unleash its devastation.

"Burn."

*FWOOSH* (That's right. Flamethrowers make that exact sound in real life. Seriously though it is really hard for me to take my own sound effects seriously, so just laugh with me at my attempt.)

Blue flames covered the black and white figure. It shrieked and flailed but after a few moments it let go and fell noisily into the abyss below with the oddly colored flames flecking behind it.

...

Megan's heart hammered in her chest as she watched team after team go up onto the stage. Each was assigned their team name and were told who among them would lead their team before sitting down. Not much to it, right. Just go up, stand there then leave. Megan's pulse, however, begged to differ.

"What if I do something stupid. What if I humiliate myself in front of them all. Can't we just, I don't know, go into the headmaster's office and do this in a less massively public area. We don't have to do it like this. Oh no... We're next!" Megan turned her attention off her feet and looked back up at the stage.

"... The four of you retrieved the black pawn pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team MAIZ. Lead by… Marygold Meinir." All four members of the new team stood proudly but none of them outshone their leader whose face was lit up with happiness. As they began to walk off the stage Megan knew that it was her group's turn. Aidan walked up first followed in succession by Ran then Bruce and lastly Megan herself.

Thinking back, the chances of both pairs choosing the same two pieces was surprisingly small and that there must have been some force that had caused it to happen. Weather that just be chance, luck, or some unknown being.

All four lined up before the grey haired headmaster Ozpin with their arms behind their back in respect , just as they had seen the others before them do. That is, except for Bruce who simply had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Aidan Iolar… Megan Clancy… Bruce Clancy… Ran Rommel. The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces." His brown eyes went to each new Hunter and Huntress as he said their name.

"From this day forward you will work together as team AMBR. Lead by… Aidan Iolar." Megan turned quickly to see her partner's face which looked more than a little shocked.

"Why are you shocked? You totally earned it." Megan said with an uncontrollable smile spreading across her lips.

Bruce on the other hand was a little less than pleased.

The new team AMBR soon were off the stage and the last few teams went up and went through the same process.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year." Ozpin said finishing up the ceremony.

"Why do I get the feeling that is the understatement… of the year." Megan chuckled slightly at her pun.

"Come on guys. Let's go congratulate everyone."

…

"Foxy, run back and get the last little bit of luggage. I've got these bags but Megan and the other guy are putting stuff away." Bruce commanded more than asked as the two partners navigated the Halls outside the dorms, with Bruce almost dropping a suitcase in the process.

"Sure thing." Ran gave a thumbs up and began to jog back down the hall. "Oh wait! I forgot to give this back." Ran undid the black cloth around her forehead brought it back to her partner.

"I don't want it. It's all bloody and sweaty. Just throw it away or keep it… or whatever." Bruce rolled his eyes as he walked away.

Ran sighed and tied it around her wrist so she would remember to wash it later. Quickly she jogged down the hall. As soon as she turned the corner though she slowed down and looked around.

"Nobody. Good" Ran sighed as she pulled a small grey clip from her hair and stick it in her ear. Slowly she walked over to one of the nearby windows and opened it, letting fresh air in.

"Come in… Hey, I said come in." Ran tapped on the piece of metal in her ear to make sure it was on. After a moment she grinned revealing her sharp almost canine like teeth.

"Yeah. Everything turned out fine. Initiation wasn't that hard and I don't think remaining inconspicuous should be a problem." Ran leaned against the window cile.

"Yeah, Yeah. I found the target… Of course I'm not going to do anything stupid. Just observation and a little snooping is all… But I do have one question. What if she discovers me." She stopped grinning and her face went serious.

"Got it. If it comes to it, I can. But as for now all that's left to do is wait. Ran out."

Ran sighed again and glanced up at the white shape in the sky, her slightly luminescent eyes reflecting the shattered moon back into the darkness

* * *

**Hey, welcome to the bottom. Wasn't that a twist. Surely Ran couldn't have any malicious intent, could she? In any case I'm really tired because for some reason I wait until like midnight to do the finishing touches on this chapter, so I don't really have much to say here. **

**I hoped you all liked this chapter alright. If you feel like it give me your opinion, just don't be a butt. Drop a review or even a PM if for some reason you want to get into contact with me for some random reason.**

**Blacklightning **

**Next Time: *insert legit chapter name here***


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